Buck 1-8.5,9.5 looks older big body small neck early season daytime pics Buck 2- 3.5 no sway back or gut, middle of rut swollen neck. Just my .02$
OK, well he is no longer on the thread and didn't comment. I will go ahead and post up. Maybe he can still give an unbiased opinion later. (in my best Maury Povich voice)...... and the results are...... Buck 1 pic 1 - 2.5 yrs of age, he had 16 scorable points that year and I believe would have grossed around 150 Buck 1 pics 2 and 3 - cementum results showed him @ 3.5 yrs of age. He grossed just shy of 170 if I recall correctly. (can't remember exact score) In hindsight, had we known, he would have been given another year. I honestly believed he was NO LESS than 4.5 and really figured him to maybe be 5. Buck 2 was aged at 4.5 which is right where we guessed him and why I harvested him. I was pretty danged shocked to learn the age of the first buck, I have countless trail cam pics of him spanning almost a full three years.......... He was always a big bodied deer, he tipped the scale at 220lb field dressed.
I'd have to double check but it appears the general consensus agrees with my initial assessment. With a few guessing much older
I'll add, in hindsight if you erase from your mind that deers gut and focus on a few other features there are some tell tale signs showing he was younger than our initial impressions. Hind end, neckline to the brisket, and especially his face. I have some close ups of his face (you can see in the first pic he is sniffing on of my cams) These are clues I should have paid more attention to instead of letting a belly and sagging brisket fool me. That and I guess I would have to admit, as much as I try to tell myself it doesn't, his rack played a role.
Very good thread. Throughout the years, I've always found that bucks are much younger than people think they are. I just read a Bill Winke article saying that most record scoring deer are 3 1/2 years old but just have really good genetics. Many people on here like to throw numbers on the age of deer (including myself) when it is really impossible to age a deer on hoof without having a history with that buck.
I guess my point with the thread was two things.... 1. How many folks would make the same mistake I did. 2. You really have to take every element of body structure into forming an opinion. If a guy had to make a quick call, in the stand, on that first buck, I think 99% would call him mature (4 +) and shoot.
Sorry I've been predisposed. From what I can see on my phone I'd agree with your initial feeling on them. I would have guessed the first one at 6 probably. I'm not clear how you had three years of history with him and he was 3.5 when killed? I've heard several times that tooth aging isn't necessarily accurate either.
Someone might be able to make a case for the 1st year photo of him. But the 2nd year, daytime photo makes him look at least 4.5. Should send it in to QDMA for their guess the age section of the magazine.
The neck was throwing me off but just figured it was a lil distorted from the stretching out from that huge swayed gut and being pre rut. That's an awesome post though. Thanks. Still would have loosed an arrow even if I knew he was a 2.5 year old. Lol
I said three years. The first year I had one maybe two pics and didn't pay much attention. He was a decent lil buck but at that point looked young still. I didn't give him a second thought. The following summer, he was all over my cams, everyday, multiple times a day and was looking impressive. It was at that point I went back through the previous years pics and assumed (I could be wrong) that the one lil buck who had momentarily caught my eye sure looked like him. Very similar rack but younger. That would have been when he was 1.5 but I had him for 2.5. So the deer would have been a dang near 120" 1.5 yr old. The second summer when I guess him at 3.5 as seen in the pics I posted he was a big bodied deer with quite a bit on bone on his head. Summer #3 speaks for itself I guess. and at that point I was second guessing whether he could possibly even be 5.5 based off that first years pic.... Make any sense ? lol
The deer was killed on the neighboring property, which happens to be owned by the father of the president of our local QDMA chapter. He also was in agreement on the deers age lol
He wasn't a fawn, he would have been 1.5 the first pics I had if the aging is correct. Which usually would be anything from a fork to a lil 6 or 8 point in most cases here. This deer was a short tined 9 with decent beams but small. then the next summer (first pic) 2.5, third summer 3.5. Again if the aging is correct. and FWIW I am not 100% sure it is. My initial reaction was NO freakin way! Either it was wrong or they mixed up a sample. IDK Could also very well be that the deer I am thinking was him that first fall isn't. He is a pretty unique deer though. As I said earlier, it wasn't until that next summer 2013 when I started getting a lot of pics and figured him for 3.5 that I went back through looking for previous evidence of him.
Oh, the way i read it was that you recognized a .5 year old as being a nice little buck. Where i hunt .5 yo MIGHT have two little spikes.
